


Dead Men and Tangled Sheets

by spnaph



Series: DMW Verse [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Ex-Army Bucky Barnes, Ex-Army Steve Rogers, Getting Together, M/M, Protective Bucky Barnes, Steve can't take a break, Stony - Freeform, Tony and Bucky are brothers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spnaph/pseuds/spnaph
Summary: This is the sequel work for https://archiveofourown.org/works/13970421 (Dead Man Walking) wherein the verse gets further expanded. Enjoy!





	1. Bucky and Steve's Game of Tag (Brother Mode On)

**Author's Note:**

> My imagination is stretched and tested to its limits in this sequel and I hope ya'll like how it turns. Also should probably mention that a few chapters of this work will be inspired by other songs and whatnot.  
> You can ask or suggest to me any and all that you can on my tumblr under the same username: spnaph.tumblr.com  
> Just tag it with DMW Verse and ask away!
> 
> Also can I just say that this was a fun AU to explore :D

Bucky wasn’t an idiot.

No matter how much smarter and bigger his younger brother’s brain was compared to his, he wasn’t an idiot. And despite the stories Steve and his family told and will tell about him, despite his impulsive tendencies, James Buchanan Barnes-Stark was far from being considered an idiot.

And he was a trained military man. Having served a few years in the army and being good enough to rise through the ranks and becoming a sergeant, he was a skilled marksman and had a good eye for things.

Which was how he caught on when his best friend and little brother started to feel something for each other. Even when both were oblivious to the other’s affections, Bucky knew.

Of course, he knew. Steve and Tony weren’t exactly the most discrete nor subtle people on the planet. Obtuse and oblivious, he thought, were better words to describe the two.

He remembers the moment he put two and two together—New Year’s Eve at the Stark Mansion. It was especially memorable since it was the night their other friends were invited to celebrate and spend the holidays at their family home with their father’s permission.

They’d been at the balcony waiting for the fireworks to start and Tony had been working on his tablet (which he proudly boasts his baby brother made when he was just 13—in your face, Richards!) while he and Steve were at the bar stools drinking with Sam and Nat. Sam was talking about some bullshit about being the fastest pilot to ever grace the US Airforce and Nat was rolling her eyes and taking sips of her vodka mix. He noticed Steve had gone silent and glanced at the blond who was _discretely_ looking at Tony, a faraway look in his eyes before he sighed and went back to conversing with Sam. Bucky squinted his eyes at the behavior then turned to look at Tony who was _secretly_ looking at Steve from his tablet biting his lip.

“Children! The show’s about to start” his stepmother, Maria, exclaimed as she entered the balcony dragging a less than enthusiastic Howard with her. Bucky strained to hear what his father was saying but the gist of it was “I could be working and making progress right now” which earned him a smack upside the head from the headstrong Italian woman. Tony hid a smile behind the tablet before Maria went and took him by the ear.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Mom, please—”

“No son,” she pointedly turned to Howard, “or husband of mine is working on New Year’s Eve!” she glared at both of them before letting go of Tony’s ear. He covered his pained ear and pouted before saying “yes, mom” along with Howard’s “yes, dear”. They looked at each other before turning away and in Tony’s case, walking away to avoid any more awkward moments with their father.

Bucky turned away from the exchange and looked at Steve who was hiding a small smile behind his drink. He caught Nat’s look who nodded to Steve’s direction and then to Tony’s. Sam let out an amused huff before patting Nat’s arm to move to another location.

“Come on, the show’s about to start” he urged the blond to stand up and put his arm around the beefy body to walk towards the many chairs and sofas that decorated the balcony.

Then he had an idea.

He wanted to test it out, to see if his observation skills weren’t rusty from disuse. It was just a few months since he’d been discharged from serving in the army after losing an arm in the field. So he went and manhandled Steve to sit down beside Tony while he sat on Tony’s other side. He felt the blond stiffen before letting loose a sigh when he sat down and began talking with Tony.

He noticed Tony’s eyes widen from realizing who’d sat beside him and saw those brown eyes brighten with every exchanged word he had with Steve.

Then the fireworks started.

The symphony of colors decorated the sky, casting light and colors on everyone in the balcony. He took a quick glance at the two beside him as the lights painted on their skins, small smiles on their faces. Tony had been wide eyed and began spouting facts about explosions and gun powder and science without taking his eyes off the sky while Steve—Steve couldn’t take his eyes off of Tony.

Oh.

_Oh._

Holy shit.

He was going to have to kill Steve. Wait. He could wait and see if and when Steve decided to tell him about it. About this.

If not, he was going to kill him.

And so Bucky waited.

* * *

 

But Steve never told.

Which led to him chasing his blond ass in the middle of New York, yelling obscenities and profanities at him.

Steve ran like a mad man, hopping over cars and food stalls, trying to outrun his mad best friend.

“I thought you were my best friend, Steven!” he yelled when he was able to corner the beefy blond.

“I already said I was sorry—” he started while looking around for possible escape routes “for not telling you I liked Tony”

“You ass” he pointed at Steve who was gonna make a run for it until the brunet tackled him. “I can’t believe you slept with my brother and didn’t even have the nerve to tell me—”

“Buck, listen—ack!” he grunted when Bucky moved to put him on a chokehold. “Bucky, stop it” he tried to pry himself away from the brunet’s hold which was impressively strong considering he only had one arm.

“I said I was sorry for not telling you but I’m not sorry for sleeping with Tony!” he managed to say before he was let go, gasping for air. Bucky had sat on the ground and ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

“I cannot believe you’re so—ugh!” he slouched and sighed before giving Steve an annoyed look.

“You couldn’t say somethin’ along the lines of _‘hey, I’m in love with your brother who I wanna bang and just told you so you wouldn’t accidentally murder me_ ’?”

“’ _Accidentally?_ ’”

“I so wanna strangle you right now, Steve, don’t play smart with me”

“I couldn’t just say that! I couldn’t—didn’t know **how** to tell you… And I was, you know, confused for a long time before I even decided on what my feelings were for Tony that I forgot to think of when and how I was going to tell you, Buck.” The blond was lying on the pavement with the palms of his hands over his eyes. “I just” he paused to sigh and then looked to the side where Bucky was. “I really really like him, Buck. I’ve liked him for a really long time” his voice cracked at the end.

“You’re an idiot, Stevie” he said before he started chuckling. “Oh my fucking God” he let out a long sigh, “I can’t believe my best friend and baby brother are banging each other. How the fuck is this my life?!” Steve only chuckled.

“If it makes you feel better, I don’t plan on making this just a one-night stand”

“That doesn’t make me feel better, Steven”

“I know. But I really do plan on asking him out, taking him out to dinner and all. You know, the works.” He shrugged and stood up, offering a hand to the brunet.

“I’d bury you alive if you didn’t, punk” Bucky replied as he took the outstretched hand and pulled himself to stand.

“Just promise me one thing…”

“Anything, Buck.”

“No fucking when I’m in the same building.”

“Bucky!”

* * *

 

They walked back to the mansion to get tackled by a flustered and worried Tony who immediately checked on Steve for any lasting damages to his ‘beautiful being’.

“I’m fine, Tony”

“I’m also fine, thanks for asking, dear brother” he teased his brother, “also,” he smacked Tony upside the head which earned him a loud ‘Ow!’ before glaring half-heartedly at the two. “That’s for not telling your big brother that you want to get into his best friend’s pants”

“That’s not exactly something you say to your broth— Ow!”

“You both are lucky I love the two of ya too much.” He hugged the two before walking away. “Next time, just tell me!” he shouted without turning to look at the couple.

 _Idiots_. He thought. _Both of them were idiots_.

He laughed to himself as he returned to his room to text Nat and Sam about the most recent developments in his life.

 


	2. Rhodey's Softest Spot is Tony Stark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhodey on caring for his best bro and friend, Tony, and on finding out about what he and Steve did.

James “Rhodey” Rhodes wasn’t a pushover—especially when it came to his best friend, the eccentric prodigal genius, Tony Stark.

But even he had to admit that he had a massively soft spot for the young brunet. He surmised that it was probably due to Tony being younger than him by a few years when they met at MIT (he was already 21 while Tony was just turning 15). He knew he let the younger man get away with most things and even get dragged into the most ridiculous shit but he couldn’t fault himself for being soft on the guy. He couldn’t help but feel protective of the kid, like a big brother would (or a momma bear, Tony would say). They graduated at the same time with Tony only taking two years to finish his engineering degree and in those two years, the two had grown very close.

They became each other’s confidant, telling each other their deepest and darkest and most embarrassing secrets.

When Tony had told him about his realizing that he had a thing, a huge thing, for his older brother’s best friend, Rhodey heard the devastation in his voice.

“What do I do, Rhodey? I can’t—I can’t like him, can I?” The genius told him the night he finally decided to lay it all out. “He’s literally a decade older than me and I know he just thinks of me as this—this kid! And he’s so far out there and I’m just—just… me.” He sagged against the darker skinned man as they sat in their dim lit dorm room.

Rhodey was about to say something when the brunet continued to ramble on.

“And I mean—he’s like, built like a god now! But you know, when we were younger, he was like, even scrawnier than I am! I mean can you even imagine? And then suddenly, he just went and had this late growth spurt and shot up like a fucking rocket and he went off and joined the army with Bucky and became even bigger and age gap aside, he’s never gonna want someone like me” The older man could practically feel the helplessness oozing out of Tony.

“He’s never gonna want someone like me…” he repeated. Rhodey put a had around the younger man’s shoulders and rested his head on the brown locks.

“Tony, I want you to listen to me. Alright?” he said and felt the genius nod and let out a shaky breath.

“Now, you can’t keep belittling yourself like this, alright? I doubt that the biggest issue Steve could have with this is how _unworthy_ or how you’re out of his league or whatever—” Tony was opening his mouth when Rhodey quickly added, “because you’re not. You’re like, top tier dateable hot stud material and everything” he smiled when the brunet let out a shaky laugh.

“Steve would probably think wanting to date his best friend’s beloved younger brother as his main issue. Age gap aside. And probably the fact that you are underage”

“Y-you think?”

“Yu-uh. But,” he shifted to face the brunet “if you really like him, and you really really want him,” he stretched out his words as he said them slowly “you could check back with him if he’d feel the same way.”

Tony fell silent for a moment before groaning and leaning back against him.

“Crap!” Tony said a moment later as he straightened up. “I can’t tell Bucky about this! He’ll kill me… And—and he doesn’t even know about…” Tony looked at him with scared eyes. Rhodey remembered that he’s probably the only person in the world that knows about Tony’s sexuality but he doubts that it’ll be a problem with any of their friends or even his family for that matter (maybe his dad would object at first but a good scolding from Mrs. Stark ought to do the trick). Tony’s insecurities were mostly created by the genius himself and so Rhodey made it his mission to make sure Tony thinks otherwise.

“But... Rhodey, I really like Steve” he said with a small voice so unlike the usual confidence the younger man spoke with. He could see the trembling lips and the wet eyes when he turned to face Tony. He reached up to cup Tony’s face and rubbed his thumb across his cheek and smiled sadly at him. He gave him a kiss on the forehead as he let the brunet silently cry on his shoulder.

That night, he vowed that whatever happens, he’ll protect Tony from being harmed by anything and anyone. Even if it’s by a certain Steve Rogers.

Especially if it’s by a certain Steve Rogers.

* * *

 

When Tony had called at ass o’clock in the morning, he had half a mind to just end the call then and there (he really didn’t want to hear about someone he counted as his brother, and sex in the same conversation. It was just wrong. And weird. Emphasis on weird.). Then Tony started freaking out and he swore he was going to castrate Steve and then Bucky came up in the conversation.

_Oh._

So that’s why he was freaked out.

He tried to reassure the brunet as much as he could and when the call ended, he was actually feeling exhausted so he slept some more. He was going to confront the two idiots about it at a more reasonable time, he decided.

* * *

 

He got the chance the evening of the same day when Tony invited him over for dinner at the Stark Mansion. He arrived at a confusing scene—in the living room, Steve and Tony were seated on the same couch separated by Bucky who sat in the middle and a few of their friends on the opposite chairs laughing and cooing as they were in conversation. Tony noticed him entering the doorway first before the others could.

“Rhodey Bear, you made it!” he stood up with a smile and hugged the older man. Rhodey glanced at the other occupants of the room, eyes landing on Bucky who winked at him and pointed at Steve with mischievous eyes. His eyes darted to Steve and narrowed them at the blond, causing the man to stiffen his posture in discomfort.

 _Oh, this was going to be fun._ He thought.

Rhodey wrapped his arms around his best friend who asked if he wanted something to drink and did the same to the others in the room before he exited to the kitchen.

He made his way to the armchair directly in front of Steve and settled for an intimidating look. He made eye contact with Bucky first and then to the other occupants—Natasha, Sam, Clint and Phil. They all had the same look of protectiveness laced with mischief. Steve coughed with discomfort as the silence in the room began to unnerve him. Rhodey smiled inwardly.

He straightened in his seat then leaned forward.

“So,” he started, “heard you and Tones, huh?” Steve didn’t look surprised that he knew. He just nodded.

“I don’t have to tell you what I’ll do to you if you ever try to hurt my best friend, do I?”

“I’d never try to—” Steve tried to say but Rhodey cut him off with a glare

“Intentionally or otherwise—Tony gets hurt, you answer to me.”

“And me” Clint supplied as Bucky just raised his fist up and the others just nodded and sounded their support.

“Of course.” Steve said with a stiff nod. “But if I ever do hurt him, feel free to do what you want to me. Hurting Tony is the last thing I wanna do.” Rhodey glanced at Bucky who leaned back in his seat with his arm draping over the space where Tony had sat.

“Did ya give him a shovel talk already?” he asked the older brunet.

“Chased him through New York in my jammies.” He said with faux-boredom. Causing a bunch of stifled giggles from some of the others and a confused look from the darker skinned man.

“Uh, what?” he asked dumbfounded.

“He slept with my baby brother and then had the gall to tell me about it as I was stuffing my face with a bagel.” Steve had the decency to at least look like he was embarrassed but he could see through the smug bastard. “I was pissed. I ran after him with almost-murder in my mind”

“What’s almost-murder?” Natasha piped in.

“It’s like murder but not because I want my brother to be happy and I still need a best friend” getting a mumbled ‘ _Gee thanks, Buck’_ from the blond.

“I can be your new best friend” Clint raised his hand and laughed.

“Yeaaaah—never happening, Barton.” Bucky stuck out his tongue.

They laughed as Steve sighed and relaxed when Tony reentered the room holding a tray of varied drinks. He looked confused and actually tilted his head and turned to Steve with a silent question in his eyes. Steve’s face relaxed into a smile and shrugged at the brunet. He laid the tray on the coffee table and handed Rhodey his drink before getting two more and handing one to Steve. He tried to sit beside his boyfriend but Bucky was adamant at playing human barrier between the two. Rhodey sipped at his drink and watched Tony who was now pouting at the older brunet and then Steve who tried to assure Tony that it was fine.

* * *

 

The rest of the night was spent teasing the new couple as well as a few more shovel talks for Steve. They ate dinner and eventually had to go home. Rhodey was standing by the door, waiting for Tony to finish trying (and failing) to persuade Steve to stay the night. Steve just hugged his boyfriend and gave him a small peck on the lips even when Tony asked (demanded) more. Bucky kept glaring at Steve before ruffling his hair and saying goodbye. Steve eventually pried himself off of Tony to kiss him one last time.

Rhodey sighed and smiled at his best friend’s antics. It was nice to see him so happy and himself for once. And after years of pining, got himself his man. He knew things weren’t going to be any easier but he was really glad that Steve was there for the young man.

Tony came closer to Rhodey just then and hugged him with such force that he nearly toppled over. He hugged back and couldn’t help but smile.

“Finally got your man, did ya?”

“Yeah. I got him, Rhodey” Tony smiled genuinely and with such happiness, he wanted to preserve it.

“He’s a good man, Tony.” He said taking a glance at Steve who was getting a last-minute scolding from Bucky. He looked back to Tony and hugged him tighter. “But he’s a dead man if he so much as hurts a hair on you.”

Tony giggled and hugged back even tighter. “Everyone keeps saying that. Why does everyone keep saying that?”

Rhodey just laughed and released a sigh.

“Just want ya to be happy, Tones.” He said with a small smile. And Tony, defying all odds, smiled even brighter.

“I am happy.” The brunet said in confidence and truth. “I really am.” They both smiled.

“So long as you’re happy.” He said with looking at Rogers with a calculating gaze which earned him another look of discomfort from the ex-army man. He hid a smile into Tony’s hair as he continued to watch the blond nearly trip over his own foot.

_Well, fucking with him was still fun._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will either be on the joint perspectives of their other friends or Jarvis's. Which one do you think should I do? Comment and Kudos help me out a lot!


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